I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an episode written and directed by David Duchovny, especially one which was centred around baseball (which I know nothing about) and had such a bizarre premise as this one did. All I can say is, I shouldn't have doubted him. Although The Unnatural isn't overall one of my favourite episodes, there were many, many things I loved about it. And it was infinitely better than Travelers, the episode which is probably closest to it in terms of set-up, with Mulder visiting (the other) Arthur Dales to hear about an old case.

"In the big inning." Groan. But it did make me smile, and I think we were long overdue for a changed tag line.

I really liked Mulder's doorstep encounter with Dales. The idea of all three children and a goldfish being called Arthur amused me probably more than it should have, and I liked the way Mulder was able to prove his worth through his knowledge of baseball. I know some people would have appreciated the two mentions of "Agent McGyver" - there's a reasonable sized body of people who really want to see it back on our screens.

The alien costume was pretty good, and I loved the sight of the alien in shorts, vest and baseball cap holding a bat. Very funny. Alien Exley's human mannerisms and exasperated sigh as he brought Dales round only for him to faint again were great too. I have to ask, though, what did he expect Dales to do?

It was great to see the 1940s forensic lab with all that archaic looking equipment and the brightly coloured solutions in flasks. Possibly there was a bit of creative licence going on here but it was a nice contrast to the modern labs we usually see Scully carrying out her tests in.

I enjoyed the repeated use of baseball as a metaphor for life, especially as it was sometimes shot down as not being that good a metaphor. If that makes sense. And the themes of belonging and identity were nicely understated as Exley considered his place in the team and with his family, and Dales pondered how great men (and, I feel obliged to point out, women) never really fit in. I liked Exley's assertion that his human face was his true face, although now that I think about it I think it's sad that he basically abandoned his roots. But it worked well at the time, and the gospel music playing over the shot of the dead Exley was beautiful.

The review of the main body of this episode has turned out pretty short. What I really liked about The Unnatural were the Mulder and Scully scenes at the beginning and end.

I ended up writing out practically the entire script of the first scene after the titles for the best lines section. That must be a first. I loved seeing Mulder pursuing his work so absorbedly, and Scully playfully complaining about being stuck inside on such a beautiful day. But he wasn't forcing her to be there, she was doing it of her own free will which suggests that she's either interested in the work or she's happy to be spending the time with Mulder. Or both. Seeing Scully so playful and relaxed was great, and I loved the coy way she got out her ice cream, sorry, non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle, and began to eat it. I smiled so wide my eyes started to water during the quick-fire proverbs, and I really liked the way Muder grabbed Scully's dreamsicle followed by her complaining laughter and mock anger at Mulder reading about baseball. It was so nice to see Mulder and Scully just having fun together. Anderson and Duchovny were both brilliant, their delivery was spot on. Scully's face as Mulder explained about the box scores was great. I loved the way she got to look on sceptically in the same way Mulder usually does when she's giving a scientific explanation. The proverbial icing on the cake of this scene was Scully's perfect, very funny "You rebel" right at the end.

Not surprisingly, I loved the final scene as well. Despite myself, I enjoyed the double entendres, probably because I felt like they were put in purely as double entendres and not in order to imply anything else. I could have done without the close up of Mulder's hand on Scully's hip though. I loved seeing Scully loosen up and start to enjoy herself, especially as she didn't feel she had to hate it because she'd previously said it was pointless. Again, the gospel music was perfect, although I wasn't so sure about the way the balls blazed into stars.

So, all in all, a pretty good episode bookended by some fabulous Mulder-Scully scenes. J And thanks to Channel 4, who showed the baseball film The Natural the same week as this was broadcast, I understood the title!

Scully: Mulder, it is such a gorgeous day outside. Have you ever entertained the idea of trying to find life on this planet?

Mulder: I've seen the life on this planet, Scully, and that is exactly why I'm looking elsewhere.

Mulder: Did you bring enough ice cream to share with the rest of the class?

Scully: It's not ice cream. It's a non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle.

Mulder: Urgh! I bet the air in my mouth tastes better than that. You sure know how to live it up, Scully.

Scully: Oh, you're Mr Live It Up, Mulder, you're really Mr Squeeze Every Last Drop Out Of This Sweet Life, aren't you? And on this precious Saturday, you've got us grabbing life by the testes, stealing reference books from the FBI library in order to go through New Mexico newspaper obituaries for the years 1940 to 1949. And for what joyful purpose?

Mulder: Looking for anomalies, Scully, do you know how many so-called flying disc reports there were in New Mexico in the 1940s?

Scully: I don't care. Mulder, this is a needle in a haystack. These poor souls have been dead for fifty years, let them rest in peace, let sleeping dogs lie.

Mulder: I won't sit idly by as you hurl clichés at me. Preparation is the father of inspiration.

Scully: Necessity is the mother of invention.

Mulder: The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Scully: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.

Mulder: I scream, you scream, we all scream for non-fat tofutti rice dreamsicle.

Mulder: I'm reading the box scores, Scully. You'd like it, it's like the Pythagorean theorem for jocks, it distils all the chaos and action of any game in the history of all baseball games into one tiny, perfect, rectangular sequence of numbers. I can look at this box and I can recreate exactly what happened on some sunny summer day back in 1947. It's like the numbers talk to me, they comfort me, they tell me that, even though lots of things can change, some things do remain the same, it's-

Scully: Boring. Mulder, can I ask you a personal question?

Mulder: Of course not.

Scully: Did your mother ever tell you to go outside and play?

Scully: You just defaced property of the US government! You rebel.

Mulder: ET steal home, ET steal home.

Mulder: It's official - I am a horse's ass.

Mulder: You've never hit a baseball, have you Scully?

Scully: No, I guess I have found more necessary things to do with my time than slap a piece of horse hide with a stick.

Mulder: It's not a bad piece of ash, huh? The bat. Talking about the bat.

Mulder: Hello, Mr Bat, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Oh no no, Miss Scully, the pleasure is all mine.

Mulder: The rest of the world just fades away, all of your everyday nagging concerns. The ticking of your biological clock, how you probably couldn't afford that nice new suede coat on a G-woman's salary, how you threw away a promising career in medicine to hunt aliens with a crackpot albeit brilliant partner, getting to the heart of a global conspiracy, your obscenely overdue triple X bill. I'm sorry, Scully, those last two problems are mine, not yours.

Scully: Shut up Mulder, I'm playing baseball.

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